I joined the Austrian Alpine Club which comes with rescue insurance and medical cover, and also 1/2 price hut fees. French Alpine Club also offers the same thing. Other insurance needed to cover stuff like gear getting stolen from your car, etc.

Looks good... only problem is that they keep referring to winter sports, which commonly means ski/boarding and excludes activities reliant upon "support ropes". I wanted to send them a mail to clarify... but can't see a link to send to.

>Looks good... only problem is that they keep referring to winter sports,>which commonly means ski/boarding and excludes activities reliant upon>"support ropes". I wanted to send them a mail to clarify... but can't>see a link to send to.

If you click the "review policy" nav button on their site, then the "Hazardous Sports" link on the subsequent page, you get to a page that states that sports normally considered hazardous are covered.

True! I was covered on a recent trip, and all seemed fine, but I didn't have to claim. The actual policy that I got after paying seemed above board, with the actual cover coming via a european insurance co. I was quite confident all would be well.

yeah sorry for starting a new thread, but didn't see this one, and the older stuff from 2004 refers to a bunch of sites that are no longer offering insurance, or urls are not right.

NZAC are no longer offering insurance. a couple other links were also dead. hostelworld.com is no longer offering insurance. the austrian alpine club is sort of an option, but is limited to 6 weeks. insurance4backpackers doesn't actually specify roped climbing (just says 'hazardous sports) and is pretty damn expensive.

The NZAC here in Oz is currently advising members to discuss personal climbing trips overseas with IHI - http://www.ihi.com/english.asp .
We've heard from a number of people (NZAC and non-members alike) who have taken policies with them for recent trips to Nepal and Antarctica, to name a few.

Hmm thanks for the replies guys, ihi is bloody expensive if you're travelling for a while. Real shame that hostelworld/insurance4backpackers (i think they're the same) doesn't seem to be happening anymore as they were pretty cheap.
The alpine clubs seem like a viable option but it seem as though you have to have a European address and only be able to do 6 week trips at a time.. Is this the case with all clubs?
Anyone know of any other ones?

If it's for climbing in Europe, I took out a policy last August with the French outdoor gear retailer Au Vieux Campeur, who also act as insurance brokers for outdoor pursuits in the Alps. I only paid 25 Euros for the "CONTRAT DE BASE", and it covered climbing and mountaineering as well in the Alps (medical, rescue, gear, etc). I used my Australian address, and it was all fine - the card I was issued said it expires in a year, but I'd check.

Hey you sure that insurance covered climbing romfrantic? i translated it and it mentions a number of sports but not climbing..
Also I was looking at BMC insurance which looks promising. You can pay an extra fee and waive the 93 day trip limit. You do however have to 'live' in the british isles. There's no specifics as to what live means. Anyone 'live' there that can assist praps?